Stories

Bucolic Baltimore

bu-col-ic (by -k l k):a country person, idealized country life; idyllically rustic; “contentment"; "a pleasant bucolic scene, a short poem descriptive of pastoral life, pastoral land, a pastoral economy.

Sixty three years ago I was born in Baltimore. I lived downtown until I was nine. My parents then hauled us out to the Baltimore suburbs; a place they believed would be the perfect backdrop for a childhood. At 20, much to my parent’s dismay, I high tailed it right back downtown. I have spent four decades discovering the beauty that surround this Patapsco River waterfront. Walk and explore as you hop on and hop off the Water Taxis. Discover pockets of greenery. Peek into courtyards behind 18th and 19th Century row houses. You can see through the “sally ports” or little alley ways which connect the yards to the front street. Baltimoreans treasure their tiny green spaces. Tall planters holding everything from pansies to gargantuan lilies line the facades. Despite some inevitable damage and occasional vandalism, we are fierce in our determination to maintain our tiny plots of nature.

Baltimore farmers’ markets supply every kind of food imaginable. There is increasing interest in buying from local farmers. We are learning to trust what is provided by people we know and farms we can visit. Local neighborhoods, working with the City, are re-claiming vacant lots for vegetable gardens, play grounds and flower beds and everyone is recycling. Bicycles and Water Taxis help folks leave their cars at home.

There’s a simple sweetness and a singular search for lifestyles more compatible with the health of our planet. There is a genuine, budding sense of neighborliness and common goals. Most restaurants now spill out into busy side walk cafes where neighbors congregate.

So walk around, people-watch, eat, drink, and observe the continuing change that is the waterfront. Smell whiffs of food both luscious and fresh. Belly up to a pub and order an astounding number of local micro brews. Dream a little dream of this city in the process of becoming the tiniest bit “pastoral”.

-Cammie Kane

The Passionate Baltimorean to His Love (inspired by the Christopher Marlowe poem)
Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That hills and valleys, blocks and park,
And all the wonders day and dark.
There will we sit upon the boat,
And see the people all afloat,
In shallow river to whose waves,
Our melodious souls doth do crave.

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A Baltimore Tradition for almost 30 Years

Most of us think of our traditions as a reflection of our lives and culture. Baltimore folks have their own special traditions. We pass these traditions down from generation to generation. Think of what happy memories you have from the traditions of your childhood. Whose faces were there? What food? What time of year? What smells and colors and sounds? We want our children to share these fond memories. In Baltimore, we see a blanket of black-eyed-susans and remember revelry at the Preakness races. We encourage our friends and kids to develop a taste for terrapin soup because it reminds us of our grandmother’s table. Some Baltimore traditions spring from a history of broad, multi-cultural roots. We still have street festivals with music and food born from the Italian, Polish, Ukrainian, African American, Irish, German and Latino communities.

Baltimoreans of all backgrounds insist on the tradition of eating steamed crabs from the Chesapeake Bay, served on newspaper and swilled down with Natty Boh beer. We wouldn’t miss Spring lacrosse games on the fields at Johns Hopkins University or the sounds, tastes and glow from a night game at Oriole Park. We celebrate a tradition of great music and jazz from our African American citizens. We daydream of picnics and kite flying on the gorgeous grounds of Fort McHenry. On crisp September afternoons,during Defenders Day celebrations at the Fort, we watch re-enactors reproduce the battle which saved our Union and resulted in the writing of the Star Spangled Banner

Each October there’s the Fells Point Fun Festival, where hundreds of thousands come to eat, drink, dance and be merry. Fall is also heralded by crisp afternoons at the Raven's Staduium. There’s nothing more traditional than being on the water at night, floating by the bright neon lights of the red Domino Sugar sign, the Natty Boh sign and the pyramids of the Aquarium.

There’s always room for beginning new traditions and discovering new destinations. So, if you’re a first time visitor to Baltimore, we hope you’ll come back again and again and make our city a part of your traditions.

So join us to share the fireworks of summer, Privateer Day in Fells Point, the wonders of water at the Aquarium and the exuberant art at the Visionary Art Museum. Come back for our outdoor film festivals and lazy afternoons at outdoor cafes.

Ride our little blue and white boats which have been here for almost 30 years.

In Baltimore, the fun of getting there is part of the tradition.

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